Freedom of religion has wrongly and unfairly been used to deny marriage rights to gay and lesbian Australians and must be strongly resisted, Labor frontbencher Penny Wong has said.

In a rallying call for the separation of church and state, the South Australian senator blasted religious fundamentalists for limiting the freedom of “those who do not ‘conform’ to their views”.

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“Religious freedom means being free to worship and to follow your faith without suffering persecution or discrimination for your beliefs. It does not mean imposing your beliefs on everyone else,” Senator Wong told the NSW Labor Lawyers gathering on Tuesday night.

“And it most emphatically does not mean deploying the power of the state to enforce one set of religious beliefs. One’s own views should not determine the rights of others.”

In particular, Senator Wong criticised commentators who have sought to strip the element of “love” from marriage and recast it as fundamentally a vehicle for procreation.

Such a view – memorably espoused by Liberal MP Ian Goodenough during a parliamentary debate last year – would not resonate with the majority of Australians, Senator Wong said.

“The problem in all of this is the application of religious belief to the framing of law in a secular society,” she said.

“This leads not only to confusion, but also to inequity. Liberal democracy is not compatible with fundamentalism of any description, whether ideological or spiritual.”

Senator Penny Wong criticised commentators who have sought to strip the element of love from marriage. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Senator Wong, who raises two children with her partner, Sophie, and attends the Uniting Church, said secularism was a strong bulwark against all forms of extremism, but securing rights for all Australians remained a work in progress thanks to religion.

“Religion-based moral codes continue to limit the freedoms and the rights of those who, in the view of religious groups, do not ‘conform’ to their views,” she said.